


Feels Like Heaven

by amethyst-noir (Arbonne)



Series: Prompt Collection [100]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Exhaustion, First Kiss, Fluff, Huddling For Warmth, Humor, Hurt Tony Stark, IronStrange Bingo 2020, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Protectiveness, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24187240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbonne/pseuds/amethyst-noir
Summary: The idea of Tony sleeping in the room right next to his made him feel warm and every protective instinct he possessed reared up at the prospect.(Getting together in the wake of Thanos.)
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Prompt Collection [100]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1126062
Comments: 24
Kudos: 224
Collections: IronStrange Bingo 2020





	Feels Like Heaven

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LaFourmii](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaFourmii/gifts).



> lafourmii20 sent this wonderful ask:  
>  _From the rest prompts list. How about: misfit (getting out of bed too soon, insisting they feel much better, and collapsing/passing out); combined with name (being so exhausted that they faintly whisper the name of someone they trust as they are carried to bed). Bonus point if they are not in a relationship yet (but both pining hard) and the one hearing his name from the other's mouth is kinda shocked (feel free to ignore if it's not what you're in the mood to write)_ 💜
> 
> Me being me I had to put my own twist on it and used an other rest prompt in addition:
>
>> **missing piece.** falling asleep somewhere that isn’t their bed. 
> 
> @ironstrangebingo prompt: _Huddle for Warmth_ (and comfort but don't tell Stephen that!)

"Tony." Stephen tried to get his companion's attention but apart from a soft sound that could have meant everything or nothing at all there was no reaction. He looked up, ready to be annoyed at being ignored, but that impulse stopped the moment his tired brain comprehended the picture in front of him.

His budding annoyance vanished from one second to the next and in its place there was… something Stephen didn't dare to name. It was warm and soft and comfortable. "Hey," he said quietly. Just to see if Tony really was sleeping or only faking it very convincingly.

The adorable sound came again, together with an aborted gesture of Tony's right hand, lying on the tabletop next to his head and still trembling almost as badly as Stephen's own. Stephen resisted the urge to reach out and touch it, just to make sure that the twitch had been nothing more than exactly that. The healing nanites had only been deactivated a few short days ago, after all, and Tony was still easily exhausted and hurting, no matter what he said.

True sleep it was then. A quick glance at his watch showed Stephen that it was almost four in the night - way past time for both of them to be asleep, but especially for Tony. They weren't twenty anymore, as his own back and neck reminded him sharply as he tried to move.

"Fuck!" At the last moment he managed to keep his curse almost silent. The Cloak, dutiful as always, perked up, came over to investigate an wrapped itself around him to provide support, as well as warmth. He only now realized how cold the room had become. Fuck. Stephen patted the Cloak with a faint smile and nodded towards Tony. "Help me to get sleeping beauty to the guest bedroom?"

Sleeping like that would be hell on Tony's body and Stephen didn't want to hear the complaints - or so he told himself. The idea of Tony sleeping in the room right next to his made him feel warm and every protective instinct he possessed reared up at the prospect. Keeping Tony safe had become some sort of obsession for him and the closer they became they harder it was to resist indulging it.

The fact that Tony seemed to like Stephen's version of protectiveness - letting him more or less do what he wanted, but within some sort of reason while snarking at him - didn't help either.

The Cloak poked him and brought him out of his half-asleep musings. "Yes, yes," he murmured, patted it absently and took a step closer to Tony.

His hand were useless, of course, but the Cloak did what he couldn't and wrapped itself around Tony. All Stephen had to do was orchestrate the whole thing.

"Stephen."

Tony whispered his name so faintly that Stephen wasn't even sure if he'd heard right.

"I'm here," he whispered back and reached out with a trembling hand to touch Tony's cheek. He couldn't tell if the skin under his fingertips was cool or not but it didn't matter, the touch itself did. "Go back to sleep. We've got you."

Tony, of course, didn't listen. He opened his eyes just long enough to see what was going on before relaxing into the Cloak's hold with a contented smile. He was asleep again a second later, apparently happy with his surroundings.

The casual show of trust almost took Stephen's breath away. He blinked away the tears in his burning eyes - exhaustion and too much time spent reading, nothing more - before he turned around to lead the way; the Cloak following dutifully. He felt the absence of its warmth keenly but Tony needed it more than he did. That, and Stephen wasn't able to carry Tony on his own. No need to waste time and energy by raging against something that just couldn't be changed. He'd learnt his lesson in that regard.

Some indefinable amount of time later was standing in the middle of his own bedroom, rubbing his aching fingers to try to warm them up, and watching with mounting confusion as the Cloak carefully lowered Tony down on his bed. Stephen's bed. In Stephen's bedroom. Which was also freezing.

It took him a moment to mentally retrace his steps and find the error - he'd forgotten to go to the guest bedroom and the Cloak had simply followed him here.

"Traitor," he hissed but it only shook itself; clearly unrepentant. Instead, it pointed first at Stephen and then at the still empty side of the bed. The invitation couldn't have been clearer if it had arrived engraved on a gold plate, decorated with a diamond.

For a moment he debated to leave Tony here, and go to the guest bedroom himself, but the moment he tried to move a wave of dizziness took hold of him and only the Cloak's quick reaction kept him upright. A moment later it was steering him towards the bed and he followed the not-quite gentle guidance without hesitation.

He let himself fall onto the bed, almost banging his hand against the headboard in the process. Only the Cloak's intervention kept him from hurting himself.

 _Sleep_ , it somehow managed to command even without a voice.

"Yes, yes, give me a moment." He stared at Tony, sleeping peacefully next to him and fulfilling so many of his most closely guarded fantasies by doing that, and allowed his own eyes to close only after he'd committed the picture to memory for all eternity.

He reached out to touch Tony's wrist with the tips of his fingers just as the Cloak settled over them to be their blanket for what little remained of the night.

"Sweet dreams," he whispered, already half-asleep himself, trying to resist the urge to cuddle up to Tony in search of the heavenly warmth he could feel him radiating.

*

A couple of hours later he woke up to gentle fingers tracing the veins on his wrist. He was warm, still covered by the Cloak, and felt better than he could remember doing in quite a while. Tony was sitting next to him with a breathtaking smile on his face.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Tony teased, his own voice still rough with sleep. "Gotta admit this is not how I imaged ending up your bedroom but I'm not complaining." His smile got softer. "If I'd known that falling asleep in your library was the way into your bed I would have done it ages ago."

His groggy mind was still trying to process what was going on - apart from the horrifying fact that Tony was _coherent_ and _chatty_ right after waking up - but something important was going on here, he just knew it.

"Tony?"

"God, you're adorable when you're confused. Not a morning person then, okay. We can work around that. Still, this should wake you up." Tony leaned in and Stephen needed only a fraction of a second to catch on.

By the time their lips met for their first kiss he was smiling and a little bit later, when Tony was busy exploring his face with a careful touch of trembling fingers. "I could feel your pulse," he whispered in awe; something that was a miracle itself after everything. The initial prognosis after the radiation burns had been bad but Tony had again overcome all the odds stacked against him and came out on top once again. Not only had he kept his right arm, no, he'd gotten most of the mobility and some of his sense of touch back.

Stephen couldn't find it in himself to be bitter that Tony had recovered more use of his arm than he had of his hands. Tony deserved it so much, after all and he'd mostly made peace with his disability. Their injuries had been too different anyway.

Tony let his fingers wander down until the came to rest on Stephen's throat who moved his head to the side for better access. He almost held his breath when the trembling touch settled atop his carotid artery.

"Breathe, Stephen," Tony reminded him, still tracking his pulse with that delightful smile. "And go back to sleep, you look like you need it. You can stop worrying now. It's gonna be okay. _I'm_ okay."

Stephen smiled back and tried to do exactly that.

"Thanks for getting me here, by the way," Tony told him in a casual tone as the exhaustion of the last few months was already begging to drag him down again. "Just don't expect me to leave anytime soon." Some shifting as Tony laid down again next to Stephen. His hand slipped away and came to rest over Stephen's stomach, pulling them closer together.

"Promise?" he managed to ask, already more than half gone, basking in the warmth of Tony's attention.

"Promise," Tony confirmed and pressed an absent kiss against this shoulder. "Is it just me or is it really cold in here?"

It took all of his strength but Stephen managed to roll over onto his side to curl to better snuggle up to Tony.

"Cuddling for warmth? Okay, I can get behind that."

"Shut up and let me sleep," Stephen begged. "Please. Later. We can talk later." Hopefully with more kissing.

An amused huff was Tony's answer to that but thankfully he stayed silent and just held on just that little bit tighter, allowing Stephen to finally relax, secure in the knowledge that Tony was safe at last.

**Author's Note:**

> Endgame? What is an Endgame? I only know and recognize timelines where Tony and Stephen end up together, happy and cuddling. This marks my 2-year anniversay of writing Ironstrange and the 100th prompt fill. So. Many. Words. Also, where has the time gone?


End file.
